Description

LameShell is a so-called "front-end" for use with LAME. LAME is a great MP3-Encoder: it's very fast, it produces high-quality files, has many advanced features (like Variable Bitrates and Joint-Stereo), and it's open source. Unfortunately, it is a command line utility, and that is where LameShell comes in: It provides an easy-to-use graphical user-interface which makes MP3-encoding even easier!

Requirements

LameShell needs Win9x, NT4, Win2K or WinXP. And of course you need LAME in order to use LameShell. (For the decoding option you'll need at least version 3.84 of LAME.)

LameShell it is the program which uses all power of library Lame on to coding and decoding of musical files. By means of this program you can code files of format WAV in format mp3 which is the most popular format for compression of the audiodata. As you can carry out return operation, That is to translate files of format mp3 in format WAV. At program LameShell the convenient interface. In the program function of Drag-&-Drop is successfully realized, that is you can freely move The files in the program in which it is possible to sort then your files as you wish. For That recode files in format mp3 you can to use such adjustments, as: constant bitrate, variable bitrate, frequency of digitization, etc. For the advanced users There is an opportunity of entering keys to library Lame manually.

add files. addition of files for work encode. Using function of Drag-&-Drop for creating a list of files and using function of Sort to sort files.

code WAV in mp3.

decode. mp3 in WAV.

create lame's options. a choice of options for the coding.

Improvemens

For the programmers who have interested in the given project, there is an opportunity Additions Tag-editor which operates the text data in files MP3.

To do Sorting by date. (now we sort only strings)

To save your collection.

To display process of coding at prompting the mouse on Icon.

Add uninstaller

"Encode Complete" Dialog Beautification

Installation

Put all the contents of the archive into one folder, ideally named " LameShell ". We'd suggest you put LAME and LameShell within the same folder, but this isn't necessary.

Uninstallation

In the rare case that you would want to uninstall LameShell, simply delete the folder into which you've installed LameShell. That's it. LameShell doesn't use any registry entries, nor does it need any runtime libraries or OCX-files.

Usage

Use case diagram

LameShell should be quite straightforward. But in case your unsure, we'd suggest you read the following short notes on the usage of LameShell.

First we'd suggest you take a look at the Options. Here you can set the MP3-Options with which you want your files to be encoded. Also, you should specify where Lame.exe resides. If you've put both programs in the same folder, you don't need to change this, as that's LameShell's default.

LAME offers a great variety of options. We've tried to support as much as possible of those, but a few are missing. To find out what an option does, hover with the mouse a few moments over the control and a (hopefully helpful) hint will appear. Also, we recommend you take a look at the LAME documentation

Second, you should collect the files you want to be encoded. You can do that by using the Choose Files menu entry or pressing the equally captioned button. A comfortably way of adding files is to use drag-and-drop: Simply drop some files onto the list. You can also drop whole folders onto it: LameShell will search it recursively and add all audio files it has found.

You can clear the whole list with the Clear List command, or you can remove selected files by pressing the Remove button.

You can change the order of the files by clicking on a header of the listview. The files are then sorted accordingly. When you click again, the sort order changes. Also, you can sort the files using drag and drop.

Once your all set, simply press the Encode button. A window will show up showing the status of your encoding session. You can minimize the whole application by pressing the minimize caption button. You can interrupt the process by pressing Cancel. You'll be asked if you want to stop encoding immediately, or if you want LameShell to first finish the currently processed file and stop then.

You also can send LameShell into the System-Tray next to your clock; simply press the button saying "Send to tray". You also have the option to shutdown Windows when the batch is through; simply check the box on the progress dialog.

You can decode your MP3s back to WAVs again the very same way you've encoded them; just choose the mp3s you want and press the "Decode" button!

The toolbar is configurable from the menu using View/Toolbar. You can choose whether you want only icons, only captions, or both. Additionally, you can turn it off completely.